Monday, October 8, 2012

Voids Around the Foundation

Sometimes it's hard to explain to a home owner that they might have large air cavities next to their foundation, sometimes even running the length of the wall that might be letting in large amounts of water. Over time the ground has settled and leaves voids that fill with water during a hard rain or even when watering the lawn.With our Great Lakes Waterproofing's Bentonite (Hydroclay) Injection System the idea is to fill these voids in with Bentoseal Bentogrout. This Bentonite Compound will fill the voids, seek out the water pathways and when properly set up, not let further water invade this space, true waterproofing, stopping water on the outside before it has a chance to enter the home.

It's not often we get a chance to show a photo of these voids but these clearly show that once the driveway was cut away it exposed these air cavities. These cavities can hold hundreds of gallons of water and once the water finds an opening it will drain onto your floor, this can last days after the rain stops. The water can enter the blocks or poured wall at any point, Some waterproofers might recommend digging around the foundation, maybe two or three feet and laying a rubber membrane bolted to the foundation, this is why membranes that only go a few feet down are useless, the point of entry might be further down

the wall, we've poked through membranes and found voids further down. Yes, we've done work on homes with rubber membranes. For exterior waterproofing there's only one company that pulls together over 34 years of business experience.